The Federal Trade Commission last week filed a complaint against Frontier Communications.
The complaint alleges Frontier did not provide many consumers with internet service at the promised speeds and charged many for more expensive and higher-speed service than Frontier provided.
Representative Ron Kind, a Democrat from Wisconsin, says it’s not just a problem in his state, it’s also a problem in states like Indiana.
“We’ve known we’ve had a problem with Frontier for some time. I had a community meeting a little over a year ago, just before the pandemic hit, where I took a lot of complaints from people who had Frontier service and how bad they were administering it, how expensive it was, just how shoddy the service was. But I’d also say this isn’t limited just to Frontier, this is other service providers doing the same thing, they come into a community with these grand promises they don’t deliver, they take the money. It’s another reason we need a comprehensive broadband plan for America that works.”
The complaint was filed with the attorneys general from Wisconsin, Arizona, Indiana, Michigan and North Carolina.
“Certainly, with the case now, trying to refund customers money is the ultimate goal, what the attorney general’s have applied for. But we need better monitoring and oversight, especially for these bigger providers that just got awarded some big federal contracts for rural broadband expansion, to make sure that they’re adhering to the terms of the contract, and not just taking the money and run. and that’s another problem that we have to confront.”
Kind is a member of the National Rural Broadband Task Force. The panel is working to improve broadband speeds in rural areas.